Manufacture of tubular wrought-iroh shafts



E; W. STEPHENS & R. JENKNS.

ROLLING TUBULAR man BARS..

-mp0. 19,799. mm1-.ted .Ma-30 lis-'58. M

nNir srArEs PATENT oEEioE.

W. A. STEPHENS ANI) R. JENKINS, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY.

MANUFACTURE 0F TUBULR WRUGHT-IRON SHAFTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,799, dated March 80, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VEBSTER A.. STEPHENS and RICHARD JENKINS, of Covington, in the county of Kenton and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Tubular Vrought-Iron -Bars for Axles or Shafting or ot-her Purposes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification.

This invention consists in the manufacture of tubular wrought iron bars for axles, shafting, or other purposes from a solid pile by means of rolls with a system of grooves constructed as hereinafter described, by which every portion of the iron is subjected to the same degree of drawing and compression and the bars are rendered much more sound and of more uniform texture throughout than tubular bars produced by making a fagot of a number of segments arranged together with a central opening between them and then welding and drawing the same between rolls, which we believe is the only method heretofore practiced of making .tubular wrought iron axles, &c.; and which method, owing to all the drawing effected by means of the rolls being on the outside with no resistance on the inside of the tube, tends to open the grain of the iron instead of closing it.

The drawing exhibits a front view of the set of rolls.

A,'A, are the housings.

B, B, are the lower rolls and C, C, the

'upper ones. The pile of about eight or nine inches square is brought from the furnace to the first pair of grooves marked l, 1, at-

the left hand end of the drawing, which combine to form a square with the corners rounded off and by which it is compressed as shown. The bar is shown in red color in each pair of grooves to exhibit the successive stages of the rolling process. From the grooves 1, it is passed to the next pair of grooves 2, the form of which is such as to reduce and flatten it, still preserving the rounded form of the corners. From 2, it is passed to the third pair of grooves 3, which reduce it still further in a similar form to Fig. 2. After leaving 3, it is passed edgewise between the pair 4, of which the groove in the bottom roller has parallel sides but a concave' bottom while on the upper roller there is more properly speaking a projection instead of a groove to make a trough-like indentation along the bar. From 4, it passesv successively between the grooves 5, 6, and 7 which are of similar character to those 4L, that is to say the grooves in the lower roll having parallel or nearly parallel sides and concave bottoms, and the upper rolls having project-ions which become deeper and thinner in regular succession as the grooves in the bottom rolls approach the semi-circular form. By the above mentioned three pairs of grooves, or of grooves and projections, the bar is reduced in size, and the troughlike groove in the upper side deepened till, after passing through the groove 7, its bottom is semicircular and so is the bottom of the trough-like groove in its upper side, and all parts of the bar at the sides and bottom of the said trough-like groove are reduced to a uniform thickness, and the parallel portions at the side of the said groove are reduced to such depth that if properly drawn together, they will complete the circle of-which the bottom part forms half. After leaving 7, it is passed between the grooves 8, 8, in

which the projection on the upper roll is' similar to that of 7, but narrower, and the upper roll is made concave on each side of the said projection, and the groove in the lower roll is made shallower, but with the same semicircular bottom so that the bar-in passing through has its two upper edges turned slightly inward. From 8, the bar passes between the grooves 9, of which that in the lower roller has the same semicircular form as the bottom of 7 and 8, and that in the upper one a similar form to 7, but with a narrower projection. The grooves 8,bring the bar nearly to the tubular'form leaving but a very narrow space between the edges. From 9 the bar passes to 10, which constitute a complete circle, the groove in the upper roll being semicircular like that in the lower one, and these bring the edges close together. After leaving 10, the bar is heated to a welding heat and passed through the circular pair of grooves l1, which form a circle smaller than 10, and weld the edges together and finish the bar in its tubular form. Another pair of circular grooves smaller than 11, may be employed if necessary to finish the bar after it leaves 1l.

What We claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

The manufacture of Wrought iron bars for tubular axles, shafting, or other purposes, by rolling from a solid pile in a system of grooves, substantially like that herein described, by which the pile is iirst flattened, 10 then grooved longitudinally7 and afterward has the sides of its groove Closed together and Welded as herein set forth.

VEBSTER A. STEPHENS. RICHARD JENKINS. Witnesses:

A. MON. SEMPLE, R. W. FENWICK. n 

